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Nuno Gomes

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The section on us:

Last Season 2018/19 looked exceptionally difficult for Bristol City. Coming into a Championship beset with clubs in varying degrees of parachute payments as a newly promoted team without one is getting tougher every year, and although City had been in the second tier since 2015 they were further hamstrung by the loss of Bobby Reid, Aiden Flint and the supremely talented and particularly lovely Joe Bryan over the summer. Jonathan Kodija had been stolen away previously and their 2017/18 campaign had been heavily reliant on Tammy Abraham on loan from Chelsea. That’s a significant talent drain to deal with, while also redeveloping a stadium on three of four sides, but City have progressed in every season they’ve been back at this level and did so again in 2018/19 despite the adversity. QPR were in midst of an absolute crisis when Bristol City visited in August, but a team robbed of its best players over the summer still came and posted a silky smooth 3-0 victory. As has become tradition under Johnson, their year was defined by peaks and troughs, and when referee Tony Harrington awarded a nonsense injury time penalty against Darnell Furlong in the return fixture it sealed a ninth consecutive victory. In truth, City had been by far the better side on the night. Though they finished with just four wins from the final 16 league games, it could be counted as a successful season from worrisome beginnings.

Ins: Tomas Kalas, CB, Chelsea, £8m >>> Daniel Bentley, GK, Brentford, £1.5m >>> Jay Dasilva, LB, Chelsea, £2.5m >>> Sammy Szmodics, AM, Colchester, Free >>> Rene Gilmartin, GK, Colchester, Free >>> Tommy Rowe, LM, Doncaster, Free >>> Robbie Cundy, CB, Bath City, Undisclosed

Outs: Lloyd Kelly, RB, Bournemouth, £13m >>> Frank Fielding, GK, Millwall, Free >>> Stefan Marinovic, GK, Wellington, Free >>> Joe Morrell, CM, Lincoln, Loan >>> Robbie Cundy, CB, Exeter, Loan >>> Mo Eisa, CF, Peterborough, Undisclosed >>> Eros Pisano, FB, Released >>> Max O’Leary, GK, Shrewsbury, Loan

Manager: Lee Johnson A cross between David Brent and Fievel Mousekewitz whose reputation oddly seems to be better outside Bristol than in.

This Season: A nice big chunk of cash for Lloyd Kelly has enabled them to bring on Tomas Kalas permanently to partner the excellent Adam Webster at the heart of the defence – Webster released by Ipswich Town so they could pick Toto Nsiala instead, nice one lads. Jay Dasilva has come in from Chelsea for the left side of the defence permanently and although Daniel Bentley’s form and confidence tailed off badly at Brentford, he could be a bargain buy in a goalkeeping position that has remained steadfastly substandard at City since they returned to this level in 2015. On paper there are few better defences at this level than the one City have put together – compare theirs to the one current heavy title favourites Leeds are thinking of turning out, for example – but by making the loan moves of Kalas and Dasilva permanent they have essentially spent a bundle of money to stand still. Bentley will need to be good for genuine progress to be made. They may lack a little bit in attack – Djidhiou is just a bit of a lump, Matty Taylor hasn’t yet been able to translate his lower league prowess into the Championship, Sammie Sczmodics scored 15 in 48 as an attacking midfielder at Colchester last season but is untested this high – but were a striker to arrive on loan or permanent between now and the end of the window they could be a live threat. I love the way they play, attacking with real width down both flanks and regularly switching between extreme right and left mid-move to stretch teams across the pitch. They are prone to the odd long losing run which they struggle to snap out of, but I really, really fancy them in a weak league this season. Fair warning, I had Notts County down for promotion from League Two last time.

Fan Opinion: @TheExiledRobin “Last season was better than expected. After selling our three best players last summer a season of consolidation was expected, so to be in with a shout of a play-off spot on the final day was beyond most expectations. There's a real feel-good buzz around the place (although somewhat dampened by a 5-0 thrashing by Crystal Palace in our only home friendly match). Ultimately we were just a little short, but it was close and we hit the woodwork more than any other team. You just wonder 'what if' just a handful of those had gone in...

“Over the summer we’ve smashed our transfer record by making the signing we all wanted by spending £8m in making Tomas Kalas a permanent fixture from Chelsea, and added the other loanee, the really exciting Jay Dasilva, for a mere snip of £2m to ensure last year's strong defence has been able to stick together. Daniel Bentley has come in from Brentford to attempt to secure a spot as our long-term number one, but we sold Lloyd Kelly - regularly only on the bench last season - to Bournemouth to help fund the lot. We've added a few others here and there but you sense there's still a fair bit of business to be done, with a right back and a top quality striker our main priorities in my view.

“In signing Kalas and Dasilva, without being disrespectful to the club who have showed fantastic intent and ambition to get them both, we've effectively spent £10m to stand still - given both were loans last season. Therefore it really depends on what the final fortnight of the transfer window brings. By the time we face QPR in the league cup we'll know a bit more about where we're at. With a top striker and one or two other good quality additions, I'd like to think we'll be right in the mix for a top six spot.”

Prediction: Second. The general consensus in the south west seems to be that they’re short of quality in attack. They also lost their final friendly 5-0 against Crystal Palace. So I’m probably wrong.

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43 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

Manager: Lee Johnson A cross between David Brent and Fievel Mousekewitz whose reputation oddly seems to be better outside Bristol than in.

“In signing Kalas and Dasilva, without being disrespectful to the club who have showed fantastic intent and ambition to get them both, we've effectively spent £10m to stand still!"

Two bits that stood out for me 

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5 hours ago, elhombrecito said:

silky smooth 3-0 victory

Not sure I'd describe it quite like that...Taylor and Weimann partnered well but there were plenty of rough patches in that game.

5 hours ago, elhombrecito said:

 A cross between David Brent and Fievel Mousekewitz whose reputation oddly seems to be better outside Bristol than in.

HAHAHAHA. I like Johnson bu this is bang on.

Honestly, I tend towards @ExiledRobin's pessimism rather than this QPR fan's optimism - 2nd seems hugely generous when you consider the squads that Cardiff, Leeds, Fulham and WBA have assembled. I hope that we are a year older and a year wiser but I cannot quite shake the feeling that we've stood still this summer and are relying on the fact that we will simply be better than last year. With that in mind I think we may fall just short again, ending somewhere between 10th and 7th.

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